Choice Review

Wyman has written a highly readable account of the movement of diverse ethnic and cultural groups of Europe's displaced persons, 1945-51. An analysis of the social, economic, and political circumstances within which relocation, resettlement, and repatriation of millions of people occurred, this study is equally a study in diplomacy, in international relations, and in social history. Its value is especially enhanced by its more than 80 interviews, and the careful and selective use of basic historical collections and archives. A vivid and compassionate recreation of the events and circumstances within which displaced persons found themselves, of the strategies and means by which people survived or did not, and an account of the policies of the major powers in response to an unprecedented human crisis mark this as an important book. Useful references and bibliography. Undergraduate and public libraries. -R. W. Heywood, University of Michigan--Flint